PODCAST | Killing Johannes Doe: The crimes of Plank and Swart

In the early hours of February 1 1989 passers-by on a road near Germiston saw a car engulfed in flames, and a man nearby kneeling with his hands covering his face.

When asked, Gert Swart said his best friend, 21-year-old Dean Plank, was the man in the car. He said he had tried to save him, but the fire had been too intense.

The truth, however, was far more shocking.

Listen to the story here: 

Plank was not dead. He was in a hotel room 600km away, ready to start his new life.

Who was the man in the car, and how had he come to be in the clutches of two killers?

In episode 81 of True Crime South Africa, we explore this case, pulled from the archives of SA crime history, and the legal decisions that completely changed the fate of those sentenced to death in the country before 1991.

For more episodes, click here.

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